any of the letters I, V, X, L, C, D, or M, used in the Roman system of notation, in which a letter followed by one of equal or lesser value indicates addition of the two, a letter followed by one of greater value indicates that the first is to be subtracted from the second, and a bar over a letter multiplies it by 1,000.

(usu. cap.) a European artistic and intellectual movement of the early nineteenth century, characterized by an emphasis on individual freedom from social conventions or political restraints, on human imagination, and on nature, usu. in an idealized form. (Cf. classicism.) [2 definitions]

an artistic and intellectual movement, arising in Europe in the late eighteenth century in rebellion against classicism, in which freedom and creativity, individual feeling, mood, mystery, and regard for untamed nature were stressed.